On September 19, 2024, Ryan Murphy’s and Ian Brennan’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story was released on Netflix, grabbing the attention of not only true crime fanatics, but a larger portion of America than a typical crime story usually gets. The nine episode TV show stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch as the brothers, and Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as their parents.
The show follows the brothers along as they orchestrate the murder of their parents, confess to their therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel (played by Dallas Roberts), get arrested and imprisoned, find legal counsel, and get tried and convicted. What the viewers eventually uncover is the abusive lives the boys lived through the sexual abuse and mental harassment from their father, and the neglectful nature of their mother. The brothers are also portrayed in a specific way, making Lyle seem like an arrogant and dominant figure with little remorse, and Erik as a kind-hearted and vulnerable younger brother.
A focal point in the story happens to be the brothers’ relationship as they are depicted as being closer than what is considered normal for siblings. A possible sexual relationship between the two is suggested at multiple points throughout the series, showing scenes like showering together and a kiss. It is the portrayal of this sexual relationship and the character of the brothers that left me wondering how accurate the show truly was. With the story being a sexual abuse case, I found it disheartening that the brothers were depicted as participating in acts of incest. I often found myself in a state of confusion after watching an episode because I couldn’t decipher whether the show was framing the brothers as victims or heartless murderers.
“I think it did a pretty good job accurately portraying a lot of the story of the brothers but of course like all shows like this there were a few things blown out of proportion that weren’t the same in real life that I think could be deceiving,” senior Blake Gronewold said. “For instance, how the brothers became very intimate with each other, even though from what I’ve read about the case, that has never happened.”
Erik Menendez himself came out with statements about the portrayal of him and his brother and his overall opinion of the series.
“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has taken the painful truths several steps backward—back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women,” Erik Menendez said, according to an article published on Time Magazine.
After doing some research, it is evident that the story of the murder, confession, and trial that is illustrated in the series is accurate. In addition, the series recounts the boys’ abuse in vivid detail, so much so that it creates a sense of discomfort in the viewer. Regardless, I find that the boys’ trauma was swept under the rug through the argumentatively inaccurate story of the brothers’ sexual relationship.
Furthermore, the concept that the brothers’ story was created into a television show as an addition to the Jeffrey Dahmer series known as Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story reiterates my question of what the producers were trying to get across. The fact that the Mendendez story was paired with a story as horrifying as Dahmer’s establishes the immediate perception that the boys were murderous monsters as well. I find the contrast between the history of abuse that the boys suffered and the portrayal as villains confounding.
Although, I do have to admit that the show is nothing if not entertaining. Ignoring the potential falsities, I would recommend others to watch it for a captivating experience.
“Overall I think it was a really good, interesting show that kept me entertained with the way they told the story and how it was portrayed,” Gronewold said. “Also how it was kind of like a documentary from a more personal perspective of different characters.”
If a murder case with its own Hollywood twist sounds interesting, make sure to check out Monsters on Netflix.
